Today, the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announces that the Notifications of Enforcement Discretion issued under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act during the COVID-19 public health emergency will expire at 11:59 pm on May 11, 2023, due to the expiration of the COVID-19 public health emergency. “OCR exercised HIPAA enforcement discretion throughout the COVID-19 public health emergency to support the healthcare sector and the public in responding to this pandemic,” said Melanie Fontes Rainer, OCR Director. “OCR is continuing to support the use of telehealth after the public health emergency by providing a transition period for healthcare providers to make any changes to their operations that are needed to provide telehealth in a private and secure manner in compliance with the HIPAA Rules.” In 2020 and 2021, OCR published four Notifications of Enforcement Discretion in the Federal Register regarding how the Privacy, Security, Breach Notification, and Enforcement Rules (“HIPAA Rules”) would be applied to certain violations during the COVID-19 nationwide public health emergency.
